Abstract
A comprehensive understanding of how interactions between catchments and downstream lakes affect fish growth rate is lacking for many species and systems, yet is necessary for predicting impacts of environmental change on productivity of freshwater fish populations. We investigated among-lake variability in growth rate of Northern Pike (Esox lucius), a fish species of widespread subsistence and commercial importance. Northern Pike were captured from 11 subarctic lakes that span 60,000 km2 and four ecoregions in the Dehcho Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. Growth rates were related to stable isotope ratios and to lake and catchment physicochemistry. Growth, modelled using increment widths (n = 2953) measured on cleithra (n = 432), was significantly slower (p < 0.001, adj. r2 = 0.78) in lakes subject to greater inferred catchment influence, which was quantified using a combination of lake and catchment characteristics. While Northern Pike growth rate was not related to δ15N, it was positively related to δ13C (p < 0.001, adj. r2 = 0.75). Further analyses revealed that benthic invertebrates in lakes subject to greater inferred catchment influence had more depleted δ13C ratios, and we posit that Northern Pike growth is slower in these lakes because terrestrially derived organic matter has relatively lower nutritional value and bioaccessibility, but further research is necessary. By linking current among-lake variability in Northern Pike growth to trophic ecology and to both lake and catchment physicochemical data, results inform predictions of how future changes to subarctic lakes and catchments may affect fish growth and productivity.
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Raw data used in this research is available on Polar Data Catalogue (CCIN Reference No: 13080) and in the online Supplementary Information.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to the Environmental Isotope Laboratory of the University of Waterloo, the University of Alberta Biogeochemical Analytical Service Laboratory, and the Western University Biotron Center for Experimental Climate Change Research for laboratory analyses, to Shelley Lundvall, Leanne Baker, and Amy Nguyen for field and laboratory assistance, to Leander Höhne for statistical assistance during the earlier versions of this work, and to First Nations in the Dehcho Region, especially Líídlii Kúé First Nation (Fort Simpson), Tthets’éhk’edéli First Nation (Jean Marie River), Sambaa K’e First Nation (Trout Lake), Ka’a’gee Tu First Nation (Kakisa), Deh Gáh Got’ie First Nation (Fort Providence), and Pehdzeh Ki First Nation (Wrigley) for their support throughout the project. We also thank the editors and anonymous reviewers whose comments and suggestions improved and clarified our work.
Funding
This research was supported by Canada First Excellence Research Fund (Global Water Futures; Northern Water Futures project), the Cumulative Impacts Monitoring Program (Government of the Northwest Territories), the Northern Contaminants Program, Dehcho First Nations, and Dehcho Aboriginal Aquatic Resources and Oceans Management program.
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Moslemi-Aqdam, M., Low, G., Low, M. et al. Catchments affect growth rate of Northern Pike, Esox lucius, in subarctic lakes. Aquat Sci 83, 59 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-021-00817-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-021-00817-4